WPP shares advertise losses of 3.2% this morning, among the UK 100 ’s worst off. This is based on read-across from French peer Publicis whose shares are almost 11% offside after surprising investors with a 2.1% decline in Q2 net revenues (consensus +1.1%) attributable to a sharp drop in US healthcare communications (“we weren’t expecting…
Smiths Group shares are -7.2% this morning as the engineering conglomerate reported an effective profits warning for its Medical division (FY revenue est. -2%). The hit to share price comes as the company reported a broadly positive trading update, with group like-for-like revenues +3%, an anticipated growth acceleration in H2 2018 and positive performances for…
British Land shares are trading lows of the day, extending a mid-June downtrend to trade their worst since mid-April. This comes in spite of another 3% hike in quarterly dividend and Office occupation holding firm at a healthy 98%. Furthermore, in terms of Office outlook, 64% of the pipeline has already been pre-let or under…
Shares in investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown are -4.1% after the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) indicated it is considering banning exit fees from online trading platforms and requiring them to offer more cost effective switching between share classes. Both ideas are designed to lower barriers to changing providers. The FCA-conducted consumer survey found that some…
The UK 100 index of London listed Blue-chip shares looks set to close higher this week, up by 0.7% at 7670 to be precise. This may might not sound much, but in the context of remaining within 50pts of July highs, following a strong rebound, it suggests that risk appetite remains strong. Which means the…
Last week, my colleague Chris spoke about the new quarterly reporting season for US and UK banks. Since then, a few of my clients got in touch to ask how investors can protect themselves ahead of results. My response: don’t just protect yourself on the UK Index , benefit. Here are some of the options…